Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: summer


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Memorial poppies

A few days ago, on a beautiful blue sky, puffy white cloud afternoon, a photography friend and I went over to Fennville Michigan to see the poppy field. If you’re not from around here, and maybe even if you are, you might ask what poppy field?

There’s a special place in a tiny little town over on the west side of the state. It’s four acres of red poppies and blue bachelor buttons. Maybe that’s hard to image, so let me share a few of the images I took over the course of a couple magical hours.

We arrived around 5 p.m. and the light on the flowers was so beautiful. It was hard to capture the entire enormity of it.

As we stood, mesmerized, near the opening to the field I listened as more people arrived.

Each person stopped abruptly and then sighed or gasped. Voices lowered in respect and awe.

The awe is because the field is over the top beautiful. The respect came from the reason the field was planted in the first place. It was originally dedicated to a young man who served tours in Afghanistan, came home with PTSD, and took his own life.

The field is also dedicated to a young 19 year old woman who lost her battle to a rare form of cancer.

I looked up both stories after taking many photos of beautiful poppies up close and in masses. We were waiting for the sun to lower, hoping for a pretty sunset.

Meanwhile we wandered all the way around the field, looking for different angles, different colors.

Different shapes.

A lot of the time I wasn’t shooting. I was just walking and thinking about the young people this town lost, the heartbreak that planted these beautiful flowers.

I don’t know how many pictures of poppies I can cram into one blog post. I want you to see them all. But I took 309 images, and that’s a bit much. I think I edited 70 some, still too many.

I’ll just try to show you a representative few and hope that you can imagine the feeling.

By 9 p.m. or so the sun was lowering. The white puffy clouds were long gone but there were still interesting shapes in the sky. It wasn’t a big impressive sunset but when you looked through a camera lens it was pretty amazing.

I don’t think we could get a more perfect day to see this sweet field.

There’s a very narrow window to see the poppies. They begin to bloom around the middle of June and they’re done by the 4th of July. I feel very lucky that we got to see them at all.

And I hope you enjoyed seeing a tiny bit of a magical place. Think a bit about the two young people too, I think their families would appreciate knowing they are not lost in all the noise of today.

In a peaceful poppy field in a tiny town in rural Michigan their memories are strong. Even among those of us that never met them.


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By way of spreading joy

A week ago today I took three people to Kensington to feed the birds. They had never done that before but they’d heard about it and wanted to have the experience.

Hey, toss that peanut over here!

They had to drive almost 2 hours but they thought it was worth it. I do too. Though we arrived early in the morning, when the birds are most likely to be hungry, we weren’t inundated with begging feathered ones. But we had our fair share.

It rained all night and I’m not looking my best, but I sure am hungry!

Mostly it was the woodpeckers, in different varieties that were interested in us. Though an occasional red-winged blackbird stopped by.

I’m really interested in that peanut you have, could you toss it here?

And the bluejays were always nearby.

I’m faster than any darn woodpecker, just watch me!

In fact this visit turned into a ‘toss a peanut’ experience. The red-bellied and the red-headed woodpeckers and of course the bluejays are all very talented at plucking a tossed peanut out of the sky.

We spent much of our walk through the woods tossing peanuts into the air where they were eagerly snatched by a winged one.

Got it!

And of course we walked out onto the boardwalk to check on the blue heron rookery.

Ms. Red-winged was startled as we walked by.

The heron babies are now teenagers, testing their wings and making a great deal of noise whenever an adult ventures by. Just in case there might be breakfast arriving.

I can flap my wings faster than you. Oh will you two just settle down? I’m trying to nap here.

All in all, though we weren’t swarmed by birds I think everybody had a great time and I hope they come back for another adventure!

Thanks for the peanut! See ya next time!


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Looking for the lights

Last week a storm on the sun was predicted to send some major northern lights our way. A storm big enough to be seen even down here in southeast Michigan. But since there’s so much light down here, what with cities and towns all over, a friend and I decided we’d drive the three hours up to the tip of Michigan’s thumb and try our luck.

A misty evening looking out over Lake Huron.

When we arrived there was a kind of mist hanging over the lake. It was several hours until sunset, but we didn’t mind hanging out on the beach and waiting.

Waiting.

Or photograph the swans hanging out just up the beach.

Relaxing in the evening light.

But finally the sun began to set and we became hopeful.

Bye bye sun, sleep tight.

Maybe the night would be the night we’d dreamed of. We were ready.

As the sky darkened we could see two planets, Venus and Jupiter. They were the perfect “stars” to practice our camera focus as we waited for the light show to start.

The first ‘stars’ to appear.

We waited. We noticed clouds in a bank along the horizon and some in the sky. But aurora would look spectacular among the clouds. So we waited some more and practiced focusing on more stars.

Thousands of stars, and there would be more to see if it were truly dark.

As time passed the bank of clouds rolled across the lake toward us and we had to change our focus and practice on the stars directly above us where the sky was still clear.

Before the clouds covered it all up.

But by midnight the sky was completely clouded over and the light storm hadn’t yet hit earth. We decided to pack it up and head home. No amazing aurora. No milky way.

A pretty little beach at a roadside park.

Were we disappointed? Or course. But we had hours on the beach, little waves rolling up on the sand, and stars overhead. Sometimes you don’t get what you want, but you always get what you need when you head out into the night to photograph the sky.

Guaranteed.


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Finding some summer music

Sunday afternoon I drove about an hour to attend another community’s band concert. They were celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country too, and I was curious what they would play.

I’ve never been to one of their concerts, but many years ago our community band and theirs planned a joint concert in their town. We anticipated having another joint concert the next year at our high school.

I can’t remember if it was a blizzard or an electrical outage, it very well could have been both, but the school was closed the day of our performance and we never did find another date to make that concert up. I’ve always felt sad about that, both bands had prepared music that we didn’t get to play.

Sunday’s program began with a subset of the band, doing jazz numbers, complete with a singer, and there was also a drum and fife band that marched in and played several pieces. The drum and fife players were aged 12-18. It felt good to see young people involved with something so historical. There is hope for our country!

The Community Band was wonderful. It is larger than our band, there were 75 people listed in the program, including twelve clarinets! They completely fill the stage and their sound fills the hall. They were awesome and I’m so glad I went.

Music in the spring and summer is so hopeful. I feel better just attending, even though I didn’t know a single soul in the audience or on the stage. I can say with certainty that everyone was smiling as they left Sunday’s concert. I plan to go to another concert this one located closer to home and outside, this week. You’ll probably hear about that one too. 🙂

You can’t beat community music. Look around, find some local music. I encourage you to take some time and attend something in your town. You’ll be supporting your neighbors and you, too, will walk away with a smile.

Guaranteed.


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Baltimore orioles for a little bit longer

Every summer we are lucky enough to have orioles visit our feeder. They never stay long enough, many adults leave sometime in mid to late August which seems too early.

This lady serves gormet grape jelly!

The juveniles stick around a couple more weeks, eating the jelly as fast as they can.

What do you mean I have to feed myself?

Even though the youngsters are pretty, I always miss the adults.

You’d think the lady would put a roof over our lunch!

But last year and this year, after quite a long break without seeing any adults, I’ve had adult males and on occassion an adult female stop by the feeder in late August!

You shut up! No YOU shut up!

I’m always excited when, long after I think they’re gone, they show up for a few more days.

I need to grab a snack before those two come back!

I guess they’re fueling up for their trip south to Florida, or Central America. That seems like such a long flight I can’t imagine.

I thought I’d check out the finch food. Not as good as jelly.

And it seems even harder to imagine the youngsters being successful at the trip on their own. I wonder if families reunite once everybody is down there or if once they leave they’re leaving their family forever.

You’re not my mom!

I know they’re gearing up to leave me. But I bought a big jar of jelly this week, hoping they’re around long enough to finish it all.

Thanks lady, see you next year!


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Camping objectives

Sometimes I go camping just to have a few days away from everyday responsibilities. Time to nap and read and snack and daydream.

Just one exit up the road from home.

Sometimes I go camping with a specific goal in mind. I’m hoping to get that perfect Milky Way image, or find a new bird to photograph, or see a part of the state I haven’t seen before.

My favorite site at this campground.

Last week, at the last minute, I got to reserve 3 nights in my favorite campsite at the local state park. It’s a spot where Katie and I camped many times. This trip I hoped to introduce Penny to campground noises.

“Did I hear something over there, mom?”

She’d been there for a couple visits last year, but it was all overwhelming to her, and even with her dad and me right there she was pretty nervous about all the people and cars and noisy trucks with trailers driving by.

“Hey! What’s my tent doing out here in the woods, mom?”

This year she’s older and wiser and a little bit calmer. Though she still looked when noisy things including people with their dogs walked by, she didn’t automatically come undone.

“I’ll just stay real close, OK mom?”

She was only visiting me for a few hours each day, and while she was there we took plenty of walks around the campground, letting her sniff the vacant spots…

“I approve of this one, mom.”

…and moving swiftly past those occupied.

“Nothing to see here, just protecting my bikes.”

She even got to walk past a couple of pitbulls and their flustered dad. She was a rockstar.

See them coming around the corner up there? Penny’s tail was already up in alarm and I didn’t notice them until they were much closer. She knew right away. She never barked, she just heeled with me right by them.

We spent about an hour on her second visit inside the tent as evening fell. I think she would have been fine spending the night in the tent if I had insisted. But she was a little restless after an hour and if I’m honest, I wasn’t looking forward to packing up in the morning with her on site.

“I guess this is OK mom. But daddy has air conditioning and a bed. Just sayin.”

It takes me an hour to pack up without the distraction of a curious dog. But next time, if she’s willing I think we’ll spend the night in the tent. Maybe she’ll begin to understand it’s all an adventure and mom’s got her back.

“Umm, excuse me mother, let me be clear. I’m not taking a shower.”

The other reason I jumped at a chance to camp at this site is the opportunity to photograph birds. Every time I’ve been at site 16 there have been birds flitting around. Their images are hard to capture, they’re not like Kensington birds, posing for treats.

A really poor image of a cardinal that swooped in and then out.

These birds are never happy when they stop by and you’re at their site. I sat for hours, still in my chair, camera ready, and didn’t catch a good look at one bird, though I heard redstarts and vireos and wrens all around me.

Mostly I got bird imposters like these brown leaves.

Then this guy bounced out of the underbrush.

A gorgeous brown thrush.

After looking at me he hopped up on a vine with his back to me. In a moment, though, he turned his head to make sure I got the shot, and then he took off.

“Did you get my good side, lady?”

I smiled, at least I got one decent image of a bird!

And then I noticed this little red squirrel looking a bit worse for wear. She skittered around the campsite and then disappeared.

A skinny little red squirrel.

While I’m looking for her, tossing a few blueberries in the direction she ran, a opportunistic chipmunk showed up, very happy with the blueberry offering.

“Hey lady! You got anything to spare?”

Meanwhile Ms. red squirrel, apparently a tired mom, was up in a tree at the edge of the campsite, happily chowing down on a nut.

Nom, nom, nom…

She was happy until she noticed the chipmunk was feasting on blueberries.

A special treat!

That seemed to make her very unhappy. She watched the chipmunk more carefully. I tossed a few more blueberries. She was conflicted.

“Wait! Those blueberries were for ME!”

And then she ran as fast as she could down that tree and back out into the site where she scored a blueberry of her own.

“That chipmunk got one, but he’s not going to get the rest!”

It all made me smile.

Camping generally makes me smile, even when it rains, which it inevitably does at least one day on every camping adventure. At least this time it was overnight. And in the morning the sun rose again.

Another beautiful morning.

Time to get packing and head home. A little fuzzy girl was waiting for me to provide her next adventure. She’s kind of demanding that way. I don’t mind.

Another adventure in the books.

Till next time, site 16. Thanks for the new memories.

Camping art.


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Penny says

Hi everybody! It’s me, your best girl Penny!

Mom gave me permission to write on her blog this time. She says she wasn’t even going to bring this up. And she doesn’t want to talk about it. So now it’s up to me.

You see mom and I have been working really, really hard on obedience. At first I tried my darndest to get her to be more obedient, but that wasn’t working, so I decided maybe I could get more treats if I tried to be more obedient myself.

A girl can grow intellectually even when she’s already full grown physically.

So anyway, mom and I have been practicing in my basement training room and out at a friend’s training barn. I like training a lot. When mom starts chopping up cheese I get all excited and run to the top of the basement stairs, ready to run down to my cheese training room as soon as mom turns the lights on down there.

Then mom and I went to a ‘fun’ run on Sunday, to see if what I am learning would translate to an obedience trial setting. Mom was pretty sure we’d do OK, maybe not perfect, but definitely OK.

Mom was wrong.

I didn’t like the noisy place with all the other dogs and when it was my turn I wanted to run somewhere safe, and I forgot how to heel and I certainly didn’t remember I was supposed to sit when mom stopped. Mom, for her part couldn’t read the signs right and was flustered with my inattention and tripped over her own feet.

And when it came to my recall, when I get to run to mom (I love running to mom) I decided it was safer if I just made myself as small as possible and sat very still. Very very still. On my behind. Not moving.

Even when mom moved closer and offered me cheese.

Mom says she was very discouraged and also worried about me because I was so scared and she felt bad for putting me into a scary situation.

But then!

The next day she took me to the groomer! What was she thinking. After that I got really mad at her and barked at her all the way home.

And then!

We went to my Rally class in my regular building last night and in between running rally courses mom took me to a back room and we heeled enthusiastically and I sat when she stopped and I did three different recalls almost perfectly.

So mom thinks I’m OK and not scared anymore. Which is good because the real obedience trial is this coming Saturday.

Mom says it’s very possible we will still NQ (Not qualify) but she says that’s OK as long as I’m not scared and get used to working in different places. She says this is not a sprint. She says it’s a marathon. I don’t even know what that means.

I’d like to remind mom that I’m still a puppy. (I’m going to milk that concept as long as possible!) And that I love her and daddy and I want to be a good girl. Sometimes I just need more time.

SO… please think about mom and me on Saturday afternoon!

PS: Pictures are stuff mom took of not me in my yard. Silly mom. I’m still the prettiest thing around.